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Avivando delfines. Dolphin Stoking. How to meet, greet and stoke a dolphin megapod. People and Dolphins come together in the big blue offshore Osa peninsula, Costa RIca. Offshore Osa is the only place where this kind of thing is known and these dolphins need protection from nets and lines and hooks. Right?

The blue-water pelagic ecosystem offshore of southwestern Costa
Rica’s Isla del Caño Biological Reserve and Corcovado National Park took
serious one-two punches during the past few months, and it remains to
be seen whether things will ever return to conditions of the past. The
area around, not inside, the two protected areas is probably Costa
Rica’s most critical dolphin and whale breeding and feeding waters. But
the whales are gone, and the dolphins have changed. The fishing has been
off, and boats are headed elsewhere to find fish.

The first few months of the year shaped up to be one of the
best seasons for marine life in Costa Rican waters in recent memory. The
cool currents of La Niña stoked a profusion of big pelagic species like
dolphins, whales, tuna, turtles and giant mantas. Divers and snorkelers
from the Southern Zone reported more giant mantas seen at Caño Island
in February and March than in the past 15 years put together. Flights
and boats searching for marine life in the area were finding dolphin
superpods, groups of dolphins numbering in the hundreds to thousands,
all over the area. There were many mating and birthing humpback whales, a
large pod of false killer whales, orcas, fin whales and even three blue
whales, including a baby, feeding on giant bait balls of small fish
brought up from the depths during the normal strong upwelling at this
time of year. There were uncountable hectares of turtles, tuna and
billfish. There were even a few big sharks.

Then, a giant foreign
ship showed up and began drilling deep holes in the ocean floor not far
from Caño Island, in the name of scientific research. Within a day, the
whales were gone. Search time for dolphins from a plane went from a half
hour or less to two hours or more. Most dolphin superpods broke into
smaller groups and headed north toward offshore Quepos. Others broke
into smaller groups and moved inshore, closer to the coast. Dolphins
that stayed in the area developed a strange skin rash.

The spewing
ship kept at it for a month. Great areas of waters turned from marine
blue to metallic brown and green. The day after the ship left, a new one
showed up towing many kilometers of giant air guns blasting extremely
loud sounds repetitively. A week later they were still at it. Drake Bay
ecotourism and sportfishing boats foolish enough to still be looking in
their favorite hot spots were told to leave the area by burly men on a
yacht out of Quepos. Scuba divers at Caño Island could hear the giant
booms of the guns during their dives.

No environmental impact
study was done for the area. No dolphin and whale observers were onboard
to look out for cetacean safety. There were no Costa Ricans onboard
until someone noticed. Many questions were never answered. No notice was
given to area residents of what was going to happen.

Since the
drilling, no whales have been reported in the area – the longest period
without whale sightings that anglers and guides in Drake Bay can
remember. No large dolphin superpods have been seen. The fishing is bad.
No wonder so few tourists seem to want to visit the area right now.

This
serious lack of ocean oversight has left locals wondering what is next.
There are reports of making a permanent drilling riser here and of
laying an undersea cable from the mainland to Caño Island and then
offshore to the rig.

Let’s hope an environmental impact study is
involved and that locals dependent on the area’s marine life are given
some notice so they can find new jobs. Because what’s next could be the
knockout punch for a good chunk of Costa Rica’s famous marine life:
whales, dolphins, turtles – and fishers and divers.

Email costacetacea@gmail.com with contributions to The Big Blue, or check out www.costacetacea.com for more information.

Communication with Dolphins on video. Listen to
the spinner dolphin super-pod sing human notes. Shawn Larkin is into
his second decade of interacting with this resident spinner dolphin
superpod and as you can see they will swim right over to people who
have been respectful and creative consistently. This offshore open
ocean dolphin pod has been attacked and netted for many decades. This
video shows that a different relationship is possible with the
dolphin super-pods, one that may prove to be much more valuable than
killing them as bycatch for easy tuna fishing.

Stop putting lines in the water before
you argue against people in the water, duh! otherwise you have no
moral high ground. Just obvious greed.

Learning how to interact with the super
pods of dolphins is the best chance on earth to understand alien
society and intelligence, and how we can interface. We need to learn
how to meet and greet all over the worlds oceans. This is crucial
practice for the human race. What if we are the helpless species
trying to beg a more powerful one to stop killing us as bycatch or
for consumption?

Music is a part of the the start to the
crucial dialog. And gear and boats and computers and technology and
people.

Latin America's greatest ocean hero, Laura Chinchilla, granted future
Costa Ricans a much better chance of sustainably utilizing our Oceans
into the future. The sad free for all of too powerful special interests
will now be controlled with vision directed to the people and the
future by a new Vice Minister of Aguas and Mares. Wow! No thats how
you do it! Seems now the voices of all groups of ocean users, not just
the most connected screaming special interests, will have a say. Now is
time for Costa Ricans to speak up about what they know about our
oceans, and help conserve it. Have you heard about the largest dolphin
pod in the world, the spinner dolphins of the Osa peninsula and Cano
Island? Aaaa, happens to be they need a park! They live near to famous
protected areas Corcovado National Park and Cano Island Biological
Reserve, BUT, they live in waters attacked by nets and lines. This Park
or protected area, needs to be south and west of Cano Island to at
least a distance of 30 nautical miles to help these spinners. NOT just 8
miles from the island as some are saying! 8 miles is not enough to
protect the biggest dolphin pod in the world and Golfito and Puerto
Jimenez need to make a lot money in the long run from conserving these
dolphins, not killing them for short term collapsing profits.

Do you dolphin dreamtime? Do it.
Do wild dolphins play with people?
You tell me.
Double Dolphin Dreamtime Dub by shawn larkin and Bigger Blue
recorded at La Milpa Grande, El Guaco,
Dolphins need pelagic parks around the world.
you should help them.
Osa blue water pelagic, Costa Rica.

What
happens when you sing underwater to wild dolphins? They sing back.
Listen to this wild spinner dolphin swim over and repeat the muscial
call of Shawn Larkin as they swim together in the blue water pelagic
of the open ocean of Osa, Costa Rica. This is true communication
with dolphins. Wild dolphins do not speak English or Spanish or
Russian, they speak music. This is close encounters of the third
kind right here on earth, wild dolphin musical communication.
Songwriting with dolphins.

These
dolphins that write songs with humans are under attack from nets and
lines. Unlike Paul Watson, Costa Ricans really have given our own
dolphins the death sentence. While everyone should be outraged at
the injustice of hunting sea mammals like Paul Watson for defending
his own, do all the Sea-lebrites care about the dolphins and whales
that the Captain fights for? Time to free Paul Watson and make a
Pelagic Park, only then can Costa Rica begin to attone for our
oceanic sins. Our dolphins need a pelagic park here in Costa Rica
before it is too late.